Turkey : the best defense is...

An overwhelming majority both at home and abroad agree that the closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a judicial coup attempt by the oligarchy and its beneficiaries. For weeks we have been discussing possible maneuvers to escape from this almost inescapable cul-de-sac. The best defense is attack. By this, I do not mean attacking individuals, personalities or institutions but a democratization attack.

If we can diagnose the illness correctly, the cure should not be very difficult. The illness is this — the oligarchy does not want the almighty guardian father state to be transformed into a transparent servant state. The oligarchy will do everything to survive and to protect their guardianship, undemocratic privileges and untouchable de jure and de facto positions within the establishment. Like the Austrian father with the secret basement, the oligarchy constantly wants to protect us from drugs, outside malevolent influences and threats. Like the Austrian father, to achieve this they are ready to build walls and install very heavy steel, nuclear-attack-proof doors. They are ready to incarcerate the entire nation. They think they own us and that they can do whatever they desire to us. They abuse us by abusing their fatherly status and privileges. Our state in the hands of the oligarchy has been the opposite of a bonus paterfamilias. That is the illness.

Thus, we must strip them of their privileges, fatherly status and untouchable positions. We must do away with their invisible walls and challenge their perceptions of threat. As a matter of fact, we thought we started doing this when we voted overwhelmingly for the AK Party at the last election in the face of the April 27 military e-memo coup. We thought we gave the message and also the mandate. It seems that our politicians did not get the message clearly and instead of focusing on the new constitution and transforming the father state into servant state, they insatiably started eyeing the local elections that would take place a year and a half later. We have reminded them that the old elite had a century’s experience and that they will invent new techniques to prevent the democratization of the country. Yet, our politicians had been hyper-confident of themselves. One must never belittle one’s opponents and their survival instincts.

It is not too late. We can still change the Constitution partially. It may be too late to democratize the Law on Political Parties and harmonize it with European standards as the oligarchy will start crying that the AK Party is trying to get away from “justice.” What the AK Party should do is to change all undemocratic articles of the Constitution and laws with the exception of the Law on Political Parties. Then it can argue that “we are not doing this to protect ourselves but to protect the nation from the father state.” A new constitution may now be a dream but large portions of the current one could be changed step by step, leaving the initial fundamental articles untouched. Thus, no one could argue that the AK Party is meddling with the laic character of the state.

The AK Party must also tackle the oligarchy’s legal pluralism and the civil servant’s virtually untouchable legal protections. They must make judicial reforms. They must decrease the size of the state to a minimum so that it does not harm the people. Almost everything must be transparent. The budgets and personnel of intelligence agencies have to be doubled. Every time there is an undemocratic coup attempt by the oligarchy, we are told that the country loses a few billion US dollars. Why don’t we spend this money on increasing the efficiency of our democratic surveillance mechanisms and the budgets of intelligence agencies? We all know who may try to stage a coup or try to meddle in daily politics by undemocratic means. Why don’t we keep a close eye on them?

Some commentators say that Mr. Erdoğan will sacrifice himself for the benefit of the nation and will not do anything to save himself from the judicial coup. Democratizing this country fully is a more noble cause for which to sacrifice oneself than waiting until the fatherly oligarchy protects the nation once more by closing the AK Party down.